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A Collection of Quotations Asserting the Validity of the 
                        Second Amendment
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A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free
State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be
infringed.

    --U.S. Constitution (2nd Amendment)

The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a
firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that
arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense
within the home.

    --District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), majority opinion

The question presented by this case is not whether the Second
Amendment protects a “collective right” or an “individual right.”
Surely it protects a right that can be enforced by individuals.
But a conclusion that the Second Amendment protects an individual
right does not tell us anything about the scope of that right.

    --District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), dissenting opinion

You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as
a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which
our founding fathers used in the great struggle for independence.

    --Charles Austin Beard (1874-1948)

They that can give up essential liberty to gain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety.

    --Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790),U.S. statesman, scientist, 
        /Historical Review of Pennsylvania/, 1759

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms... disarm only those who are neither
inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the
assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to
prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence
than an armed man.

    --Cesare Bonesana, marchese di Beccaria (1738-1794), Italian
        criminologist, /Essay on Crimes and Punishments/, quoted by Thomas
        Jefferson in /The Commonplace Book/

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniencies attending too much liberty
than those attending too small a degree of it.

    --Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. President, letter to Archibald
        Stewart, December 23, 1791

If you asked, if he was still alive, he would have said his only
regret is he didn't have his sidearm with him and he couldn't do
anything to stop him.

    --James Gill, on friend Jonathan Blunk,
        killed in the Aurora, CO Century movie theater shooting 

We are a nation of laws. Our law protects the law-abiding
citizens of our nation. It is unfortunate that a young man had to
die this morning in our community because of a bad decision he
made to violate the rights of a law-abiding citizen.

    --Van Zandt County (TX) Sheriff Linsey Ray, after fatal
        shooting of burglar

If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with
army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the
penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a
constitutional privilege.

    --Wilson v. State of Arkansas (1878)    

The right of self-defense is the first law of nature; in most
governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right
within the narrowest possible limits...and [when] the right of
the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext
whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is
on the brink of destruction.

    --George Tucker, Virginia Supreme Court judge (1803)

For, in principle, there is no difference between a law
prohibiting the wearing of concealed arms, and a law forbidding
the wearing such as are exposed; and if the former be
unconstitutional, the latter must be so likewise. But it should
not be forgotten, that it is not only a part of the right that is
secured by the constitution; it is the right entire and complete,
as it existed at the adoption of the constitution; and if any
portion of that right be impaired, immaterial how small the part
may be, and immaterial the order of time at which it be done, it
is equally forbidden by the constitution.

    --Bliss v. Commonwealth of Kentucky (1822)

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed.' The right of the whole people, old and young, men,
women and boys, and not militia only, to keep and bear arms of
every description, and not such merely as are used by the
militia, shall not be infringed, curtailed, or broken in upon, in
the smallest degree; and all this for the important end to be
attained: the rearing up and qualifying a well-regulated militia,
so vitally necessary to the security of a free State. Our opinion
is that any law, State or Federal, is repugnant to the
Constitution, and void, which contravenes this right.

    --Nunn v. State of Georgia (1846)

The right of a citizen to bear arms, in lawful defense of himself
or the State, is absolute. He does not derive it from the State
government. It is one of the "high powers" delegated directly to
the citizen, and `is excepted out of the general powers of
government.' A law cannot be passed to infringe upon or impair
it, because it is above the law, and independent of the lawmaking
power.

    --Cockrum v. State of Texas (1859)

....the right to keep arms necessarily involves the right to
purchase them, to keep them in a state of efficiency for use, and
to purchase and provide ammunition suitable for such arms, and to
keep them in repair.”

“The rifle of all descriptions, the shot gun, the musket and
repeater are such arms; and that under the Constitution the right
to keep and bear arms cannot be infringed or forbidden by the
legislature.

    --Andrews v. State of Tennessee (1871)

Recognized that the right to arms preexisted the Constitution.
The Court stated that the right to arms "is not a right granted
by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon
that instrument for its existence."

    --U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876)

The maintenance of the right to bear arms is a most essential one
to every free people and should not be whittled down by technical
constructions.

    --State of North Carolina v. Kerner (1921)

The provision in the Constitution granting the right to all
persons to bear arms is a limitation upon the power of the
Legislature to enact any law to the contrary. The exercise of a
right guaranteed by the Constitution cannot be made subject to
the will of the sheriff.

    --People of Michigan v. Zerillo (1922)

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on
certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It
will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be
exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is
like a storm in the atmosphere.

    --Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Abigail Adams (1787)

The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been
considered, as the palladium of the liberties of the republic;
since it offers a strong moral check against usurpation and
arbitrary power of the rulers; and will generally, even if these
are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist
and triumph over them.
    
    --Justice Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution (1833)

He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.

    --Jesus Christ (Luke 22:36)

If the representatives of the people betray their constituents,
there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that
original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive
forms of government.

    --Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28 (1787)

When people say things like, “don't let this moment pass without
acting on gun control,” what they're really saying is our
arguments are so unpersuasive that they can only succeed when
people aren't thinking clearly.

    --Glenn Harlan Reynolds

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